BANKING CRISIS: The Daily Telegraph'sJeff Randall says that in China, the Communist Party holds show trials for those people suspected of involvement in bribery and corruption. They are ritually humiliated, forced to confess and shot. Richard Fletcher states that when it comes to bankers, greed is no longer good. The argument about the need to pay huge bonuses to retain talent is no longer accepted. Tracy Corrigan suggests the grillings of US and UK bank bosses was what an old news editor of mine used to call "a moment". In other words, a fundamental, historical shift was crystallised during the latest hearings in Parliament and Congress. The Independent'sSteve Richards thinks that nationalisation - in the short term - is the only political answer to the problem banks. It's ridiculous to ask the FSA to regulate bankers' pay and bonuses directly, as the prime minister appeared to yesterday, Jeremy Warner protests. The Sun'sJon Gaunt says it was right the bankers apologised but their false regret and mock tears would make a crocodile blush.

The Daily Mail'sAndrew Alexander says the HBOS and RBS bankers were sorry they had lost a lot of money, but they insisted it wasn't really their fault. He suggests again that bonuses are paid in shares which are retained until well after retirement. The Daily Mirror'sPaul Routledge wonders if we would be in this economic mess if the banks were run by women. In Iceland a woman has taken over the banks and has brought in other lasses to run them effectively. In the Daily Express, Frederick Forsyth says the banks' excuse that their contracts, containing the bonus clauses, are secret is rubbish. In The Times, Peter Riddell notes that the public backlash against bankers and their bonuses is widespread and deep, but with women much more hostile than men, and professionals and managers more sympathetic to bankers than other social groups. Camilla Cavendish asks if can there be a neater insight into what went wrong in Britain's banks than the tale of Sir James Crosby and the roaring greed that made bankers, borrowers, shareholders, regulators and politicians deaf to pleas to slow down? Patrick Hosking is critical of the way that the FSA supervised HBOS.

AFGHANISTAN: The Daily Mail'sAndrew Alexander says he would like to know what Britain's Afghani policy is, other than rolling over and asking the Americans what to do. In the Daily Telegraph, Con Coughlin says it is now three-and-a-half years since the government committed its first brigade to Afghanistan, but the threat posed by the Taliban remains as potent today as it did in the summer of 2006.

GEERT WILDERS: The Sun's Anila Baig says Wilders' film is a huge attack on Islam. She admits there are nutters who speak extremist nonsense, but Wilders is attacking all, not just them. In the Daily Telegraph, Philip Johnston says the refusal to admit oddball Dutch MP Wilders to Britain marks a further retreat from this country's traditions of free speech. The Independent'sJohann Hari is unrepentant about demanding free speech for everyone - despite riots, death threats to him and the arrest of an Indian editor who published his views. The answer to problems of free speech is always more free speech, not repression. [It's a really excellent piece. See it here-RG] Wilders should be allowed into Britain because this is a country that pioneered freedom of speech, former radical Islamist Ed Husain contends. In a civilised society there has to be a dividing line between freedom of speech and when it topples over into incitement to hatred and violence. For LibDem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, Wilders' 'revolting' film crossed the line.